Pitching Perfect: The Barden Bellas Team Primer
by jemetc
Summary: A/U: The Barden Bellas are trying to be the first all-female team to win the collegiate division of the Interstate Club Championships for Mixed-Team Baseball. To make history, they have to face more than just record books, convention, and the hated Cycle Crushers. They also have to beat their own worst selves (As Cynthia Rose says, they may be bad, but they're awfully good at it).


**Disclaimer:** I own nothing from _Pitch Perfect_ or _A League of Their Own. _I am most probably not even the first person to come up with the glorious idea of what if a certain a capella group were a baseball team instead.

**Summary/Premise:** The Barden Bellas are chasing history. They want to be the first all-female team to win the collegiate division of the Interstate Club Championships for Mixed-Team Baseball. But they're up against more than just the record books, convention, and their own worst selves (As slugger Cynthia Rose says, they may be bad, but they're awfully good at it). They also face stiff competition from teams right from their own backyard: the Supersonics and High Heat, which both field lineups of boys and girls, and the Cycle Crushers, the all-male squad that has won the national title for six straight years.

**Note:** This idea was born from three things: (1) The way my baseball-and-musicals-obsessed brain could not lay off the opportunities for wordplay, beyond the movie title, that simply present themselves; (2) The fact that my unexpected yet all-consuming obsession with _Pitch Perfect_ is most probably due to the fact that it mirrors the trajectory, elements, and appeal of _A League of Their Own, _my very first movie obsession; and (3) The gem of a story "Love and Baseball (Baseball and Love)" by Ghostandyouknowthis, posted on , which mentions that Aubrey Posen is a Yankees fan.

I started imagining tall, blonde, no-nonsense Aubrey, Dottie Hinson-esque in a baseball uniform (if only in appearance), and everything else began falling into place. Too much, too soon, in fact—I would love to recast _Pitch Perfect_ as a baseball drama centered on Aubrey and Chloe, but I also cannot resist coming up with all sorts of one-shot ideas that might be inconsistent with that drama. So here I am now, settling with a "Team Primer." I hope this sets the grounds for this alternate universe and shows just how apt it is for the Bellas to move from auditorium to diamond. Whether I produce stand-alone stories and/or a multi-chapter series, these will all revolve around this central idea. This fic is quite literally a first pitch, in the many senses of the term. Let me know if you're in for the whole ball game. ;)

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**Pitching Perfect: The Barden Bellas Team Primer **

#1 Pitcher: Aubrey Posen (Captain)

Throwing the perfect pitch is all about control—and no one stakes her life more in achieving both than Aubrey Posen. Having learned the game from her father, a former NCAA Division I Player of the Year for the United States Military Academy, no one rises to the challenge of singlehandedly commanding the pace of a game like her. No one else either falls as spectacularly under the pressure of doing so. At her worst, this fearsome flamethrower can choke in a split-second. At her best? Put up your dukes all you want. No one can hit off her. No one will even have a shot.

#7 Catcher: Chloe Beale (Captain)

Being a catcher fits Chloe Beale like a glove. Patient and perceptive, she easily spots the strengths and weaknesses of teammates and opponents; peppy and pushy, she can talk any player out of and into a jam. Moreover, she throws her body without hesitation into every play and fights through every imaginable injury. Most importantly, she alone can guide Aubrey Posen through the hornet's nests of every inning. The pair are totally in sync, on and off the field, even when it appears Chloe is letting Aubrey call too many pitches on her own. It makes some wonder: if Aubrey is misfiring when the game is on the line, will Chloe step up to plate and call her out—or forever stand down behind it?

#3 Shortstop: Beca Mitchell

Part of Beca Mitchell thinks Aubrey "Major General Pain in the Ass" Posen only penciled her in at shortstop to insult her height. Another part of her thinks she deserves the gig because, deep down inside, a voice tells her that she's good at baseball, very good, and that it isn't bad for her to be. Yet no matter how much the game calls to Beca, a last part of her would rather just walk on by; baseball is a waste of time, no matter what that sappy movie _A League of Their Own_ makes little girls believe before life goes on and gets in your way. Beca can mix defense and offense to bag and mash the perfect hits. She's everything the Bellas need. They're just everything she doesn't want.

#00 First Base: Amy

Baseball wasn't even a word in Australia until Fat Amy from Tasmania made it its biggest new sport outside of mermaid dancing. Now she's out to show Yankees how the game should really be played. Powerful and athletic as anyone who's wrestled a dingo and a crocodile _simultaneously_ would be, Amy has chosen to show off her skills at first base. Sure, she could most probably play the World Series solo, given the chance. But at the moment, manning first base for a bunch of Bellas isn't too bad of an opening act. It doesn't require her to do much cardio.

# 8 Second Base: Stacie Conrad

Agile, flexible, and gifted with balletic grace, Stacie Conrad cuts a stunning figure at the center of the diamond. People may joke she's more beauty queen than ballplayer, but make no mistake: This girl isn't the type to cry over a broken nail. (In any case, she files them before games as a precaution.) She's the type, though, to check out every cute opponent and spectator. Thankfully, this doesn't interfere with her ability to make a play on the field. And of course it doesn't. After all—as her teammates know too well—no matter what she does, isn't Stacie always all over second base anyway?

#32 Third Base: Cynthia Rose

Power slugger. Strong-armed fielder. Big-time gamer. A scout's notebook would be filled with these superlatives about Cynthia Rose. If there were a pro baseball league for girls, she would definitely be a top pick right out of high school. But the dice hasn't rolled that way for women yet, and, besides, to Cynthia Rose, playing ball isn't _all_ about the money. Ka- ching and bling are just for suckers who don't appreciate simple thrills: swinging the bat the way you want it, lunging for the tag in a rundown, protecting your girls in a brawl—and beating a bunch of boys at "their" own damn game.

#11 Center Field: Lilly Onakurama

Lilly Onakurama is absolutely criminal. That's what people say after seeing what the surprising daredevil can do out in center. Time somersaults over the fence to snag a homer? Dive spread-eagled into the mud just to nab a foul ball? Slide through a catcher's legs to steal a run on a squeeze play? Please. They don't know half the story. Lilly will tell anyone who can listen what she will really do in the name of game. Setting fire to opponents' possessions (and getting jailed for it) was just one of them. So was setting them on fire _again _(no turn in County for that one) and _again_ (she's a fast learner). As for chomping off her twin's fingers so she wouldn't get into Little League… okay, maybe whoever claimed to actually get that story from Lilly just didn't hear her correctly. Maybe.

#23 Jessica, #10 Ashley, #14 Denise: Outfielders/Utility

They can play right field, left, center, first base, second, third, shortstop, catcher. They can pinch run and hit, and hell, maybe even pitch relief if only their captain acknowledged that position existed. Name the job and Jessica, Ashley, and Denise can work their butts off to do it. They're just always waiting to get called up. On most days, Denise goes to left field and either Jessica or Ashley takes the spot in right. The rest of the days, they switch. Afterwards, they switch some more. It doesn't really matter if they're messing up Aubrey Posen's depth chart. They're so far out in the park, it seems she—and the rest of the team—don't even know they're there.


End file.
